Aortic Root Diameter in Hypertensive Patients With Various Stages of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Dian Wang, Jianzhong Xu, Yuan‐Yuan Kang, Wei Zhang, Lei-Xiao Hu, Ji‐Guang Wang
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a risk factor of several cardiovascular diseases. We investigated the association between aortic root diameter and hypoxia-related parameters in hypertensive patients with OSA. METHODS: Our study included 242 hypertensive patients with OSA (52 mild, 71 moderate, and 119 severe). All the patients underwent echocardiography for measuring aortic root diameter and polysomnography for measuring apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen desaturation index, and time spent with oxygen desaturation less than 90%. RESULTS: The study patients included 19.8% women and had a mean (±SD) age of 49.9 ± 12.9 years, a mean aortic root diameter of 33.4 ± 2.6 mm, and a prevalence of echocardiographic aortic root dilation of 3.7%. Patients with mild, moderate, and severe OSA had similar echocardiographic left ventricular structure. However, patients with severe OSA had a significantly (P < 0.05) greater aortic root diameter (33.9 ± 2.4 mm vs. 32.4 ± 2.2 and 33.4 ± 2.9 mm, respectively) and higher prevalence of aortic root dilatation (5% vs. 1% and 3%, respectively) than those with mild and moderate OSA. Aortic root diameter corrected by body height was significantly (P < 0.001) associated with AHI, oxygen desaturation index and time spent with oxygen desaturation less than 90% (r = 0.23-0.33). After adjustment for various confounding factors, the associations between aortic root diameter and polysomnography parameters remained statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The severity of OSA was associated with the aortic root diameter. Patients with severe OSA had a greater aortic root diameter.